Summer — we’re sorry, we didn’t mean it. Sure, we complain about your heat, humidity and hordes of tourists that descend on our fair city. But you’re also the season of long days, nostalgic fun and flavors we’ll spend the next 10 months missing. So we’ll hang on as long as we can, especially with our end-of-summer bucket list in hand.
Hit a neighborhood festival
Four of Washington's most popular eating-and-drinking neighborhoods are in the spotlight this month, hosting daytime festivals packed with live entertainment, arts, vendors and al fresco food and drink. The H Street Festival (Sept. 19) is the biggest in Washington at the moment, a 12-block-long street fair that's worth exploring for an entire day with tens of thousands of neighbors. Columbia Heights Day (Sept. 12) is a smaller-scale affair, with two blocks of 11th Street NW closed off between Park and Kenyon streets, and a family-friendly fun fair on the playing fields of Harriet Tubman Elementary. The Barracks Row Fall Festival (Sept. 28) closes Eighth St. SE for cooking demos, music and dog-friendly activities. Finally, there's Adams Morgan Day (Sept. 13), once one of the city's largest festivals, which is being reborn this year as a more low-key and community-oriented celebration with art exhibitions, live music, and food and drink specials at shops and restaurants on and around 18th Street and Columbia Road NW.
Get off your couch on Sept. 12
There are days when it might be tough to decide which of two concerts or street festivals you want to attend. Then there are days like Sept. 12, when you have no excuse for being on your couch. Snallygaster, D.C.'s largest beer festival, in Yards Park, or the 40th annual Virginia Wine Festival out at Great Meadow? The D.C. State Fair in Shaw or the annual block party that is Columbia Heights Day? Food and wine at the annual Rosslyn Jazz Festival, or beers and tunes at the Annapolis Craft Beer and Music Festival? And how will you cap your day: Madonna at the Verizon Center, comic Kumail Nanjiani at the Lincoln Theatre or the theater of the absurd that is "Point Break" Live at the Howard? If you've ever wondered how many places you can be at once, this is the day to find out.
Take a trip to Italy
If your summer plans didn't get you to Italy, Masseria's courtyard is the next closest thing. The new Union Market restaurant from former Bibiana chef Nick Stefanelli is a looker on the inside, but on a warm evening the outdoor space is the place to see and be seen. Planters filled with herbs and wildflowers bring color and aroma to the otherwise industrial Northeast neighborhood. Stefanelli's prix-fixe menu shouldn't be missed, but for a tempting aperitif or a farewell to summer, park yourself on one of the courtyard's inviting gray sectional sofas. The cocktail repertoire includes quaffs spiked with seasonal produce. Our summer fling: the Peppino di Capri, featuring a peach sorbet that leaves rosy swirls in a coupe of prosecco.
Masseria, 1340 Fourth St. NE. 202-608-1330. www.masseria-dc.com.
Eat your vegetables
At Garrison on Barracks Row, you may never reach the fish, seafood and meat sections of chef Rob Weland's menu, such are the pleasures found among the summer vegetable offerings sourced from Maryland's One Acre Farm. The burrata with grilled peaches and dandelion greens makes an elegant starter, and whole roasted eggplant served with yogurt, dill and hazelnuts is a study in flavor and texture. Weland also does right by one of summer's most delicate, hard-to-master staples: squash blossoms. The fried flowers are coated with a delicate tempura-like batter, stuffed with provolone and topped with a pleasingly acidic romesco sauce that will guarantee nothing is left behind in the serving dish.
Garrison, 524 Eighth St. SE. 202-506-2445. www.garrisondc.com.
Visit an old-fashioned fair
We aren't ready to say goodbye to summer until the last state and county fairs pack up and ride off into the sunset. Thankfully, you still have a few opportunities throughout September to get your fill of everything from fried foods and livestock shows to carnival rides and vegetable-growing contests. So, mark your calendars for the Maryland State Fair (through Sept. 7 in Lutherville-Timonium), Prince George's County Fair (Sept. 10-13 in Upper Marlboro), D.C. State Fair (Sept. 12), Anne Arundel County Fair (Sept. 16-20 in Crownsville), Great Frederick Fair (Sept. 18-26) and the State Fair of Virginia (Sept. 25-Oct. 4 in Doswell).
Order a sophisticated snow cone
If your summer isn't complete without a snow cone, have we got one for you to try. The icy treats at Adams Morgan's Pop's SeaBar are not those of your youth - you know, made with garishly colored and artificially flavored syrups, served in rapidly disintegrating paper cones. No, these beauties ($3) are made with local fruit and herbs. Recent choices: the Baltimore Lemon Stick, featuring spearmint and lemon, and the Earth n' Eats Strawberry, which tasted like, well, real strawberries, in all their sweet and slightly acidic glory. You can also choose to make your snow cone alcoholic ($7). Who said being a grown-up wasn't fun?
Pop's SeaBar, 1817 Columbia Rd. NW. 202-534-3933. www.popsseabar.com.
Have an indoor picnic
Throughout the summer, Fainting Goat chef Nathan Beauchamp has been hosting family-style "Picnics at the Goat" on Monday nights. Last month featured a Maryland blue crab feast that included corn on the cob, cole slaw, shrimp and berry cobbler. This month, the dinners are Beauchamp's riff on the classic lobster boil ($45 per person, minimum two people, reservations required), served with corn on the cob, sausage and potatoes and fruit pie.
Fainting Goat, 1330 U St. NW. 202-735-0344. www.faintinggoatdc.com.
Hang out at a beer garden
Washingtonians don't just flock to German-inspired beer gardens during Oktoberfest, as anyone who's waited in line outside Dacha or tried to get a table at Biergarten Haus this summer can tell you. But if you're meeting a bunch of friends for a drink, the best option is Wunder Garten, a pop-up beer garden adjacent to the NoMa-Gallaudet U Metro station. Run by the owners of Adams Morgan's L'Enfant Cafe, the 22,000-square-foot lot is far bigger than its competitors, with eight German drafts served from the taps of a beer truck, seating at communal tables and free WiFi and games including corn hole, ladder golf and frisbee. (Be warned: The bathrooms are in a temporary trailer.) Like Dacha and Garden District, Wunder Garten is open seasonally. Though no closing date is set, it may become weekends-only in the fall, so get your happy hours in now.
Wunder Garten, 150 M St. NE. www.wundergartendc.com.
Take in a water view
Though Old Town Alexandria likes to play up its nautical heritage, restaurant options at the foot of King Street are closer to "tourist trap" than "luxury cruise." But the waterfront area received a boost this season when Annapolis's Blackwall Hitch opened its second location in the former Torpedo Factory Food Pavilion. The bar interior is nice, especially if you're sipping a grapefruit crush spiked with agave or a margarita that gets extra spice from a jalapeno-orange syrup, while ensconced in one of the leather armchairs or sofas in the upstairs crow's-nest-style bar. But it's the brick-paved outdoor space that's the real reason to visit: There's a view of the Potomac River from most of the umbrella-shaded tables, while the best seats are groups of cushion-covered love seats surrounding large tables that double as fire pits. (Thankfully, we won't have to worry about built-in heating for a few months.) One disappointment: You'll have to go inside for happy hour specials, offered Monday through Friday from 3 to 7 p.m.
Blackwall Hitch, 5 Cameron St., Alexandria. 571-982-3577. www.theblackwallhitch.com.
Pick through some blue crabs
Everyone makes a fuss over steamed blue crabs at Memorial Day, but our favorite crustaceans begin to peak in late summer and early fall, after they've molted a few times and developed their sweet, delicious meat. If you don't have a car to drive to Annapolis or the Eastern Shore, the best place for a crab feast is the decades-old Quarterdeck Restaurant in Rosslyn. On sunny days, the tables outside are full of groups eating elbow-to-elbow, with piles of wonderfully spiced crabs lying atop the paper-covered tables. Reservations are key on weekends, though you can usually make same-day reservations during the week. The market price for all-you-can-eat crabs is around $45 to $50, depending on the day, and includes fries. Don't miss the crab hushpuppies, which have lumps of crab meat baked right in.
Quarterdeck, 1200 Fort Myer Dr., Arlington. 703-528-2722. www.quarterdeckarlington.com.
Pay nothing to visit a pay museum
With our Smithsonian museums, we're spoiled in Washington: We could visit a number of museums as often as we like and never pay a dime. But a few private institutions charge a fee, which makes the annual Museum Day Live event such a treat. In the District, for instance, a handful of those pay museums will be waiving entrance fees on Sept. 26: the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the National Building Museum, the Newseum and the Kreeger, just to name a few. Check the Web site to see which museums are participating and print a free ticket for two, then start exploring.
Museum Day Live, Sept. 26 at participating museums. www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday
Pregame at Hill Country
In an up-and-down season for the Washington Nationals, there has been one constant: Hill Country barbecue, a mere fly ball away from the center field gates. The Texas-inspired barbecue joint's Hill Country Home Stand popped up in an empty South Capitol Street gas station in May, serving chopped brisket, pit-smoked turkey and spicy links to customers seated at picnic tables and playing corn hole on the asphalt. Beer is $5 or $6 per pint, a good deal compared to what you'll pay inside the park.
Hill Country Home Stand, South Capitol and N streets SE. www.hillcountrywdc.com.
Drink like you're in the tropics
Few beverages inspire thoughts of vacation like a mai tai, and right now, Washington is crazy for tropical drinks. Here are a few places to try them in the next few weeks, before they fly away for the winter:
Mockingbird Hill is showing off the versatility of sherry with a special "Sherry Goes Tiki" menu that drops aged Spanish wine into familiar drinks. The standout is the Mai-Tai-loroso, which adds Oloroso's nutty, dry flavors to a traditional mai tai. The drinks will be offered through Sept. 26. 1843 Seventh St. NW. 202-316-9396. www.drinkmoresherry.com.
Jack Rose's rooftop Tiki Bar has four tropical drinks to choose from. Try the Palm Pine, with jalapeno-infused Jameson Black Barrel, banana curd, pineapple and ginger beer, on Thursday, when all drinks are half-price ($6.50 instead of $13) from 5 to 7:30 p.m. 2007 18th St. NW. 202-588-7388. www.jackrosediningsaloon.com. Tiki bar open Thursday-Saturday.
PX's vibe is classy rather than kitschy, but the current cocktail menu features several tiki-style drinks, including I am Soo Tiki, which pairs aged Rhum Barbancourt with banana water, coconut water, coconut palm sugar and house-made coconut bitters. 728 King St., Alexandria. www.barpx.com.
Barrel on Capitol Hill is launching its own tiki menu this month. Barrel: 613 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. 202-543-3622. www.barreldc.com.